The beautiful things in life...

What a day! Where to begin? This morning Kami and I set out to fill our Saturday with the sights of Lille. We began at the tourist office to get maps and set out on foot. First, we headed to “Vieux Lille” or “Old Lille”. The little roads and houses date back centuries and some are even marked. One house I passed had 1604 carved above the door! There was an accordion player in the street, which set the mood for our old French outing. What shocked us was that each time we turned a corner we ran into a massive cathedral or an ancient structure. Example number one, we stopped at a corner to get our cameras out and at the end of the street stood Notre Dame de Treille! It is technically considered as basilica, not a cathedral. However the strange part is that three of the facades are dark, ancient, stone (see picture) and the front side has been restored in modern fashion! It’s an absolutely hideous gray plastic-looking front with modern writing. (Compare picture) The inside was closed for restoration, but the cellars were open and inside them, a religious affiliation keeps a shop where they sell products made by the nuns and monks themselves! The nuns knit aprons, dip candles, and the monks paint dishes and carve crucifixes; then they sell them right there in the basement of the basilica to help support their monasteries and convents. I could tell each item was made with delicate care. Next, we found the “Wall Street” of Lille-the old stock exchange is there, along with several very old buildings that have now turned into expensive shops and businesses. The street is called “Rue de la Monnaie” and is in the background of the picture I’m in. Next to that, I posted a picture of Kami since I keep mentioning her and because we have been doing our sightseeing together. Well, we continued wandering around until we became lost and I had to ask someone for directions which somewhat peeves me to do when I feel like an independent explorer haha.
Moving along we turned a corner and bam! The most beautiful white building stood at the end of the street. I just had to see what it was so we walked toward it; it was so clean it shone. The name of it was Sainte Marie Madeleine and as we walked in the door, we stood in awe at what was in front of us. Expecting to find a dark chapel with candles and an alter at the front, we instead stood in a round chapel with three walls filled from floor to ceiling with metal trash! Confused, I asked the man next to the door what it was, and he laughed and said this was here for the Europe XXL exhibition. Most of the Eastern block countries have brought something to the exposition, and he continued to explain that this was one of Russia’s contributions. The artist, Subodh Gupta, welded metal buckets, spoons, plates, anything silver he could find, together to create these mountains. It was so bizarre I couldn’t help but just stare. Other portions of the exhibit included things like an entire village made of aluminum foil, and replicas of birthing houses, which for centuries were used in Russia to deliver babies of women who were unmarried and ashamed of their pregnancies. Finally, the last thing I did today was visit the Palais des Beaux Arts, the museum of fine arts, which is housed in the Lille Palace. I must admit that this was my very favorite thing I have done or seen since I arrived! The museum is absolutely incredible and oh how I love art of all eras, styles, and artists! This morning I got online and researched out what works are housed in this museum and which are the most worth seeing and I found some very famous artists including Monet, Manet, and Rodin. However, many more originals are kept there than I could have imagined! But first, upon entering the museum, there is an enormous colored glass chandelier! Then, in the first room there are several sculptures, and the first is a portrayal of Adam by Auguste Rodin. I visited his museum in Paris, only having heard of The Thinker, and found that he had many others that were absolutely incredible. This looks like several of his others and is just as impressive. Adam’s head is tilted strangely but the details in his tendons and muscles in his feet and hands are quite lifelike. Rodin etched his name into Adam’s foot. The next statue I’d wanted to see is called The Kiss by Gustav Crauk. It portrays a mother and her little boy and his arms are wrapped around her while he kisses her cheek. It’s a tender pose and his little angel wings poke out through the back while she sits gracefully. It was such a sweet statue, it’s no wonder it’s one of the favorites of visitors to the museum. I then came to a statue of a young boy who reminded me of Peter Pan or one of the lost boys from Neverland. He had a fairylike figure and wings; his stance looked like he’d just stubbed his toe. I read the plaque and the title was “L’amour piqué” “Stung by Love”. The little arrow in his foot represents love and he has just been shot. I loved nearly every piece, but a few more of my favorites included a statue of the Pharaoh’s daughter reaching into the Nile to grab Moses’ basket cradle, a painting by Monet of the London parliament buildings at sunrise, and the Rubens paintings. I had studied Rubens in art classes before and learned he was reputed for his “undulating” and fleshy women and men, often painted on a diagonal. So to see the figures in real life, on canvases well over twelve feet wide was remarkable.
One of the paintings said its medium was oil on wood so I looked at it from a side view and due to the fact that it was painted in the 1500’s over 500 years of wear certainly showed. The wood was warped and the back was worn thin in places it appeared to have been propped up before.
In the final display gallery of religious art I found a couple of paintings that impressed me. One, titled La Nativité or The Nativity painted by Phillipe de Champaigne depicted the manger scene with an elderly Joseph and a beautiful Mary. In the upper foreground there

are about a dozen curly headed little angels peeking down from the heavens. I had to smile upon seeing that the Christ child was wrapped so tightly, “swaddling clothes” doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was a truly touching portrait and I’d be interested to see more of Champaigne’s works.
Well, I don’t think words can adequately express how I love art and how curious I am to know about the depth of its beauty. I always wonder if every painting has a story, if the artist’s life is represented in some way in what he paints, if there are things hidden that we with our modern eyes may miss?
It’s getting late so I’d better hit the hay…tomorrow will be my first day in the Lille ward and I’m really excited to get to know the members! Bonne nuit…

Bring on the sights!

Bonjour! Today was a full day of sightseeing in the center of Lille! It is a holiday devoted to the ending of World Ward II. I mistakenly thought it was Ascension Day, but that’s in two weeks. Anyhow, many sights were closed, but enough were open to fill the day. Kami and I ventured around together and ran into several unfamiliar sights! The first, being a modern art statue of some brightly colored flowers. I forgot to mention in yesterday’s entry that on our way out of the cinema, a young woman followed us past a church shouting “Girls! Are you happy? Do you love life?” then continued on to preach a little sermon about God’s love. We should’ve told her we loved life and were already Christian, but she was obviously drunk so we nervously scuttled away. There is an exposition lasting three months here in Lille called Europe XXL. Thus, each day there are activities going on and booths set up. Today they were celebrating organic foods and tents were set up selling soy products. Kami and I tried some of them and the apricot soy yogurt wasn’t half bad. We walked through the Galleries Lafayette and stared at the sparkling luxurious shops. Then we headed down through H&M and the shops more in our price range to uncover the secrets of French fashion. I bought a fabulous mustard colored scarf for six Euro and before leaving, the saleswoman said if I wore it the way I’d tied it, I would give off the impression that I was uptight. (Little does she know I sort of am an uptight person :)) Anyway, she came around the counter and proceeded to knot both ends of the scarf and wrap it twice around me. It looked neat afterward, I’ll have to learn to replicate it.
Architecturally, Lille is very different from Paris; due to the Flemish-Dutch & German influence the buildings have much more color and are built with a sense of movement. No two sectors of a compound look the same and their steeples and windows aren’t meant to match. I tried to capture that in the picture in the town square. Finally, the last picture is of the Grand Palace, also known as the Palais des Beaux Arts. It is the Louvre of Lille as I may have already mentioned in previous entries; I am going to visit it tomorrow and cannot wait to see the works of Monet, Seurat, and especially Camille Claudel-whose exposition was in Paris while I was there but was not able to visit. Oh how I love the art of Europe.
For one of my internship classes, I have to write a ten page paper on Lille itself so I’m anxious to see more of it and pinpoint exactly what I’ll write about. But for tonight, I brought several books with me so I’d better get to reading them. It’s amazing to think that I have now been here in Lille one week!

What a day full-to-the-brim with excitement! The EGL power company went on strike today for nearly three hours! They hold the monopoly on electricity so there really isn’t much that can be done about it and they have systematically each week for the past few months been shutting off power in various parts of Lille. Today it was our sector and oh boy did it ever throw a wrench in things. No power point for staff meeting, no computer system to answer students’ questions, no accessible records, nothing. Everyone was furious and at the same time, student demonstrations started taking place right outside the university library. Gunshots, screaming, colorful outfits…To my surprise (and luckily) they weren’t protesting the power outage, they were rallying for a new student body leader!
Dean Van Peteghem spoke with Kami and me today after the staff meeting and told us that he and his family would be pleased if we’d join them for a weekend to their beach home in a few weeks. We were thrilled to hear that and we’re glad to have each other seeing as we’re the only Americans and Mormons around. She will only be here another month, but at least I’ll have a friend for awhile.
Tonight, Kami and I went to the train station and went through the ringer to get a monthly metro pass. First they denied us because we didn’t have a passport size ID photo to give them, then, after we’d gone to a booth and brought back a picture like they said, they told us they’d already shut down their computers so to come back on Saturday. What a pain :) – Oh well, all part of the adventure. This evening Kami and I explored a busy part of Lille we hadn’t yet seen and then decided to see the movie Coco Avant Chanel that seems to be all the rage here. It was fabulous! Audrey Tautou does an excellent job playing the feisty Coco and the storyline closely following her life was moving and beautiful. I’ve seen an English version with mom and this was fairly similar and just as good.
Lastly, there is a two month-long exposition going on in Lille this summer called Europe-XXL and as part of it, some of the eastern European countries have brought in several modern statues and placed them downtown. Most of them feature babies in the forms of dragons and strange things like that. I tried to take a picture so hopefully it’s clear enough to see. --I love the feeling at the end of the day of aching feet and tired eyes, which means I’ve explored to the max and had a full day. Until the next time…xo

A full full day, but no photos to prove it :)

Oh la la, I feel like I don’t have any time to journal since it’s so busy here. I like the pace and complexity of the business world though. This evening, I hopped on the metro for the first time to see what was further into Lille. I found a bigger store called a carrfour, thank heavens. Tomorrow I’m going to take my passport and buy a monthly metro pass. Friday is a holiday devoted to the end of WWII so the university shuts down, which means I sightsee! I’m anxious to see “Old Lille” and the Palais des Beaux Arts, which is considered the Louvre of the North. Also, a new movie called Coco avant Chanel (Coco before Chanel) is all the rage in Lille and it stars Audrey Tautou, one of my favorite French actresses, so I’m dying to see it. Today was a hectic day in the office, however, I’ve made progress, I sent my first two documents by email in French out to the staff this afternoon. The French keyboard is drastically different than the American one so getting them typed and grammatically correct and clear was quite the chore. :) Tomorrow I’ve been asked to cover the front desk of the department for an hour during a staff meeting and am quite nervous to do it. Sunday will be my first day at church in the Lille ward and I can’t wait to see a Mormon in this town! I thought I’d run into missionaries perhaps but haven’t yet. Cedric, the vice-dean repeated a quote that I had heard in a French comedy on the plane here called Bienvenue chez les Chti’s. It goes, “when a person comes to Lille they cry twice: once when they arrive, and once when they leave.” The North has a bad reputation for being cold and gloomy, but the people are so kind, I am sure I too will become attached and sad to leave when my time comes. Well, I’m off to do my pilates before I crash. Bonne soirée xo

My lovely little abode in Lille

I’m starting to feel so much more at ease now that I’ve moved in, organized my cute little yellow abode, and found my way around town better. Life in Lille is Lovely!

Second day on the job!

Bonjour ! Today went considerably well! I’m starting to grasp more of what goes on here in the FLSEG -Faculté libre de sciences economiques et de gestion- (The department of economic sciences and management) It’s quite complicated how the different programs are woven together but I’m learning a lot. Today I went through several of the applications and got them ready to send onto the dean. There are 40 or so applications received each day and only 30 students are accepted per semester! I saw these flowers as I was leaving my apartment, pretty huh? Well, during my layover in London on Sunday I had 4 hours free so I checked my luggage in and ran to the British Museum. I had been anxious to see the Rosetta Stone in real life, and it was just as neat as I’d imagined. My picture has a glare, but I suppose I should still put it up.
I also saw some of Michelangelo’s sketches that he did before painting his major works; absolutely incredible. Lastly, the British Museum holds a big piece of the beard of the Great Sphinx in Egypt-quite cool! While walking out of the catho today, I looked out the window of the stairwell and what do I see? Gargoyles. These are the simple European things that just tickle me. I’m really starting to get in the Lilloise spirit! Well, I’m getting hungry so I’m off to discover more of the city before everything shuts down. The adventures and work will continue, so until tomorrow…A bientot..

First Day..

First day on the job! It was excellent and I’d say overall a success. The amount of information was slightly overwhelming, but I think with time I will catch on. Everyone has been very kind to me, though I think many of them find me peculiar. Cedric Lepoutre, the dean’s assistant, took me around to all the professors and administrators to introduce me, and then showed me around. He is a nice man, and luckily will bring me some bedding, dishes, and utensils from his home. One added benefit is that I have my own office. It has a nice view of the medical school and even better, has the internet, which my apartment doesn’t. However, I am very pleased with the room I’ve been given. It is situated 10 minutes from the university and is a cute yellow room with a bed, desk, small table, fridge, and sink. It’s nice to have a place of my own to feel somewhat at home. Getting around has been rocky and there have been some small problems, but I’m trying to stay positive and work hard. Absolutely no one can pronounce my name; it’s comical. So I answer to many versions of “ay-leee”. While walking in today, I took this picture. I work on the second floor on the right side. It’s an absolutely beautiful building! I am anxious to learn and explore more. Until tomorrow…a la prochaine xo